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The Irish Times

A Dublin daily first published on 29 March 1859, owned through The Irish Times DAC by the Irish Times Trust; its group reported 143,000 subscribers at the end of 2024.
✓ Last reviewed: September 2026
PublisherThe Irish Times DAC, whose board is appointed by the Irish Times Trust, per the Trust’s page
Owner as recordedIrish Times Trust CLG, per the Euromedia Ownership Monitor (December 2025)
First edition29 March 1859, according to The Irish Times
Group subscribers, end of 2024143,000, including home-delivery customers, as The Irish Times reported (15 October 2025)
Web locationirishtimes.com; sport on the /sport path

What is The Irish Times?

The Irish Times is a national daily newspaper published in Dublin, with its website at irishtimes.com, where sport sits on the /sport path.[1] The publishing company is The Irish Times DAC, whose board the Irish Times Trust's page lists beside the Trust's governors.[3] NewsBrands Ireland, which describes itself as “the representative body for all national newspapers, print and online”, lists The Irish Times among its member brands.[7]

The Euromedia Ownership Monitor's Ireland report of December 2025, by Roderick Flynn of Dublin City University, records The Irish Times and the Irish Examiner under the Irish Times Designated Activity Company and the Irish Times Trust CLG.[6] The Trust's own page states: “The Board is currently made up of eleven directors who are appointed by the Trust”. It lists the board and the Trust's governors by name, and links the company's financial statements.[3]

The group is wider than the paper. The Irish Times reported on 15 October 2025: “Based in Dublin, the group publishes The Irish Times, the Examiner and Echo titles based in Cork, and a number of regional publications.”[4]

What does The Irish Times cover?

On 23 September 2026 the sport section's navigation listed rugby, Gaelic games, soccer, golf, racing, athletics, boxing, cycling, hockey and tennis. Its items that day included hurling All-Star nominations, the men's football team's Nations League opener, a jockey's ride in the Kerry National, and Munster's and Leinster's preparations for the United Rugby Championship season.[1] The section's page description reads: “Stay up-to-date with the latest Sport news, live scores, fixtures & results along with the best in-depth analysis, interviews and match previews. Brought to you by Ireland's quality news brand, The Irish Times”. That is the paper's own description.[1]

The group has invested in sports data. Its report of the 2024 accounts states that the group acquired RIP.ie during the year, along with the sports data app Score Beo.[4]

The acquisition of 2018 brought a second sports desk into the group. The Irish Times reported that the deal covered the Irish Examiner and the Evening Echo in Cork, seven regional weeklies and the websites breakingnews.ie and irishexaminer.com.[5]

How large is The Irish Times's audience?

No audited readership or circulation figure for The Irish Times was retrieved. NewsBrands Ireland's home page, which represents the national titles, publishes no readership figures, and no current readership survey for Irish national titles could be found.[7] The figures below are the group's own, as its newspaper reported them.

The Irish Times reported on 15 October 2025, of the accounts for 2024: “The group closed 2024 with 143,000 subscribers, including home-delivery customers.” The same report states that “it recorded turnover of €115.6 million in the 12 months to the end of 2024”.[4] The subscriber figure is for the whole group at the end of 2024, not for the paper's sport section, and the group publishes more than one daily. The same report quotes the interim managing director, Mikie Sheehan: “digital subs are growing, which is a key strategic area for us.”[4] Accounts for 2025 had not been reported in the sources retrieved.

Since when has The Irish Times existed?

The Irish Times dates itself to 1859. In an article of 29 March 2019, marking 160 years, it gives the date of its first edition as 29 March 1859. It states that the paper was at first published on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and that it became a daily on 8 June 1859.[2] That is the publisher's own account.

The group took its present shape in 2018. The Irish Times reported on 10 July 2018: “The Irish Times has completed the acquisition of all of the publishing and media interests of the Cork-based Landmark Media group”, which included the Irish Examiner and the Evening Echo, and that the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the Minister for Communications and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland had approved it.[5]

Why does The Irish Times matter in Ireland's sport?

It is one of the national titles NewsBrands Ireland represents, beside the Irish Examiner, which the same group publishes; the group reported 143,000 subscribers at the end of 2024.[4][7] It reports Irish sport across the codes its navigation lists, and it bought a sports data app in 2024.[1][4]

Two monitoring bodies have published on the market it sits in. The Media Pluralism Monitor's Ireland 2026 page states: “Irish competition law has never specified quantitative thresholds automatically limiting increases in concentration of media ownership.” It also states that “The Irish Times Designated Activity Company and Mediahuis Ireland both operate online advertising portals as subsidiaries”, in a sentence that continues with Virgin Media Television Ireland.[8] The Reuters Institute's Digital News Report 2026 for Ireland, by Jane Suiter of Dublin City University, states: “The Irish Times in 2025 was the flagship Irish example of reader revenue driving newsroom redesign.”[9] Those are the monitoring bodies' characterisations, not this page's.

References

  1. The Irish Times — Sport section (page description, navigation and headlines of September 2026). Accessed 2026-09-26.
  2. The Irish Times — The first edition of ‘The Irish Times’ was published today 160 years ago (29 March 2019). Accessed 2026-09-26.
  3. The Irish Times — The Irish Times Trust (governors of the Trust; board of The Irish Times DAC; financial statements). Accessed 2026-09-26.
  4. The Irish Times — Irish Times group almost doubles profits as revenue comes in marginally higher (Ciarán Hancock, 15 October 2025; accounts for 2024). Accessed 2026-09-26.
  5. The Irish Times — Irish Times completes acquisition of ‘Examiner’ and Landmark titles (10 July 2018). Accessed 2026-09-26.
  6. Euromedia Ownership Monitor — Ireland, country report 2025 edition (Roderick Flynn, Dublin City University; December 2025): ownership table. Accessed 2026-09-26.
  7. NewsBrands Ireland — home page (self-description; member brands). Accessed 2026-09-26.
  8. Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom — Ireland 2026, Media Pluralism Monitor country page (last modified 2 July 2026). Accessed 2026-09-26.
  9. Reuters Institute — Digital News Report 2026: Ireland (Jane Suiter, Dublin City University). Accessed 2026-09-26.